Lameness in dairy animals results in pain and distress and this translates quickly into appreciable reductions in milk yield. In the past herdsmen treated the disease by first fashioning a block of wood to fit the healthy claw of a foot so afflicted. The block was then attached to the underside of the claw, thereby slightly to elevate the diseased claw and permit it to heal. Of course, this practice left the animal's foot with only about one-half of its normal area of contact with the ground. This in turn made the leg prone to slipping, which was also stressful for the animal.
A surgical slipper designed to remedy the foregoing deficiencies was disclosed in Logan, U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,857. This slipper was disclosed as being designed for attachment to the diseased claw. Inasmuch as the animal's foot was received within the slipper, both left and right configurations were required. A feature of the design was the provision of a lattice in the form of an array of intersecting ribs which projected from the underside of the slipper sole. The ribs were deep enough to elevate the claw to which the slipper was attached. The sole was made thin enough so that a hole could readily be punched through it between two adjacent ribs. The hole permitted pus to drain from the diseased claw.
In practice it was soon discovered that attaching the slipper to a diseased claw was highly inappropriate, thus the provision of a hole in the bottom did not serve any useful purpose. It was also discovered that any device had to be attached to the healthy claw such that the diseased claw could be left open to the air to facilitate healing. Also, inasmuch as the Logan device was in the form of a slipper, herdsmen had to stock both left and right configurations.
It is thus the principal object of the present invention to provide a surgical block to elevate the healthy claw of a cleft-footed animal that will permit the diseased claw to heal properly and which will be an improvement over devices heretofore known.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a device that can be used for either left or right claws such that the herdsman need only stock one model.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a device that will obviate the tendency of the animal's leg to slip.